Camera - xperia s - focusing problems and poor images

[#1]

Firstly this phone is fantastic and I have already conmverted several friends from apple to sony.

Last night I though I would really test it out - went out with a few mates, each with different phones and every time the Nokia N8 took better pictures.

Honestly - my xperia took ages to focus and 5 out of 9 shots were very very poor. In direct comparision the N8 - once he had it set up, took photos faster and each one was in focus - non of this waiting while it figures out what its doing,.

In day light - mine wins no problem - in pubs and low light areas I found this phone to have major problems with focus, and tiime delay in pressing and actual capture of images --- dont get me wrong - I can take it out of my pocket - press the button and hey presto - a photo very very quick --but what is the point when its not in focus and then I have to try again, then again, by which time, my mates are laughing as they have unlocked their phone, aimed and took a good photo.

SONY -- please look into this --  is this my handset or systemic?

Looking at the response this is systemic - if this is a software issue then please sort it, if hardware - recall and replace.

For those of you with the problem - the best photos I can get are to disable face detection, scenes to OFF,,focus mode - have it on touch or infinity, metering centre. At least on these settings I get more than 1 out of 10 photos which I can use.

THIS IS STILL AN ISSUE!!! SONY PLEASE RESPOND!

Message was edited by: batman1056

[#2]

you just dont expext it from such a high end phone, i am so dissapointed with it now

[#3]

Hi...

I'm Arya from Indonesia...

I'm using Xperia S.

You guys, and including me... Must have experianced these things... It is lack in camera focus, but believe me that everything have alternatives... I think the point is just one, it is 1.5GHz/core. Higher camera quality, slower the capture. And lower camera quality, faster the capture.

1. Fast Capture

I assure you that the original camera from Xperia S have ability to fast capture (although it is not fast in low light), but the quality is really poor sometimes because of compression.

2. High Quality

This is my private alternative. Have you guys tried to use another camera apps?? For me, i used Vignette and the quality is brilliant, but do not expect fast capturing and fast focusing.

Thank you...

Sorry if there are mistakes in my opinion.

[Mr_Lu]

my understanding of Xperia S camera: Yes, sometimes it don't fix the focus before capturing. After trying and trying with this phone, I found it was probably caused by "auto scene detection" and "auto fix focus".

In poor light condition, the shutter speed will slow down to ensure more expose, you need to hold the phone stably, half press the camer key wait untill focus fixed, and then press camera key down to complete capture, hold the phone stably and make sure the focus fixed (focus become green)is very important to capture a clear photo.

[Xad]

I too played around with the settings and it seems the focus problem is indeed linked to the Automatic Scene Selection Settings and possibly the "Face Detection" setting. I set it to "Normal" and focus setting to "Single Auto Focus" and it seems to be much better now (only tested a little bit though). Will see how things go. The auto mode needs to be refined i think, especially the Face Detection; no mode should take that long to focus and no mode should struggle to lock into a focus going from in focus to out to in then out.

If any development team members read this, please also include another feature/option in the next OS update in that when you are using the phone (not screenlocked) and you press the camera button once the phone switches to camera mode immediately without you having to hold the button in. I can understand having to hold the the button in when the phone is off and that works great, but when it's on, it shouldn't need holding in.

On my old Samsung i8910 you only pressed the camera button once and it would switch to camera mode immediately without you having to hold it in (only when the phone was being using already though, not screenlocked; and you couldn't turn it on using the camera button).

Also, a camera button on the lockscreen next to the swipe unlock like the iphone4s would be nice Probably not going to happen though.

[the_purpleangel]

I am also having severe focusing problems with this phone.

It is appauling.

It is not the amount of time taken to focus that is the problem, the phone just cannot focus correctly before taking the picture. I've tried multiple different settings and differet camera apps but nothing fixes the problem. I have also had the same problem recording videos.

Please can you tell me if there will be any updates that will fix this.

[pixate]

I can also confirm the camera focus problems. I notice it most when recording video. With the subject within 6ft of the camera. It happens most in face detection mode. The green box appears around the subjects head, but the focus hunts. This is in good light situations with simple backdrops (plain walls etc).

I would be interested to hear if there is to be a fix for this. As the Ice Cream Sandwich update seems to be getting pushed back further.

[#8]

Sony... is this a hardware or software problem - if its hardware, you are in breach and are selling a product not fit for purpose. I would like a new handset. If its software please get it sorted, your reputation is dwindling.

[#9]

The focus hunting and high percentage of out of focus shots is true.  The photos are also very soft when enlarged even when pinch zoomed on the phone screen.  Im a fairly serious photographer and thought this phone would be great to have in the pocket as I travel but it has turned out to be fairly disappointing.  I have tested countless shots with the phone sitting on a steady surface using the self timer to eliminate any chance of camera movement and still achieve poor results.  Tested all setting options including focus mode, exposure value, ISO, auto and manual scene selections, etc.  Photos are just not crisp or sharp.  My IPhone camera simply blows this camera away in both results and ease of use.

It is somewhat amazing to me that Sony can design and build wonderful digital camera equipment (Nex 7 and others) but they simply cannot get it right on a phone camera, yet Apple can do a respectable job.  Go figure.....  The Xperia S is a high end phone and certainly not cheap.  Im clearly not expecting Nex photo quality but I did expect much better performance and photo quality when I purchased the Xperia S and for that, Im truly disappointed.  For the record, I also felt this same way when I purchased the Arc.  The photo quality in that phone was and is absolutely terrible in my opinion.  I feel like I have been cheated twice now..... shame on me.  I fell for the hype once again, (from the Sony Mobile Xperia S website).  Pasted below;

Experience now. With lightning-fast capture.

A single key press takes you from sleep to snap in just over a second. With the 12 megapixel camera of Xperia S, you’ll never miss another shot again. And you can keep on shooting. No delays, no missing the subject. Low light? No worries. The Exmor R™ for mobile camera sensor lightens up any gloomy day. Then share your pictures on a big screen.

One other minor gripe, I had purchased the Live Sound headphones just before I purchased the Xperia S, sadly, these headphones are not compatible with the S.  They work with the Arc but not the S.  Why would you do that?

[the_purpleangel]

The main issue here really is though that the camera focus simply does not work in a high number of cases. It's not just a 'could be better' quibble - a bit blurry, or not that sharp, I can take a full length video without it focusing on any of the items in shot once. Every photo I take I have to take about 6 times before it decides to focus on the item.

It is really, really broken.

[#11]

Hello Sony...

I'm Arya from Indonesia...

This is my video recording using Sony Xperia S

Is anybody noticed what's wrong in this recording??

Maybe because it's in crowd you won't see the problem...

Next video i upload will be clearly seen what's the problem...